How good is the Div I team in Austin?

[david aames]

Roddick apparently hitting with the Longhorns back in Austin... Anybody here got a chance to hit with one of these guys?

From his Wimbledon Semi Press Conference...

Q. Do you have any trouble finding practice partners in Austin, Texas, where you live?

ANDY RODDICK: No. I go down to the university sometimes and hit with the tennis team down there. A lot of times if I'm going to tournaments and I haven't played a lot of sets, I'll just get there a day or two early and try to play.

As far as training, off weeks a lot of it's focused on fitness anyway. There are plenty of guys who can hit the ball.

[david aames]

http://www.texassports.com/index.php?s=&change_well_id=16&url_channel_id=21

[The_Dark_Knight]

i ate one of those guys

[ATXtennisaddict]

Damn it,he should let ppl know what time he goes to hit with the UT Team, I would go and watch!

The UT team men's isn't that good this year. The women's team was 2nd in NCAA championships.

[HookEmJeff]

Travis Helgeson, the freshman from Overland Park, KS....was an All-American this year for UT. Traditionally, UT is a Top 15-20-type team.

Jeff

[35ft6]

For just practicing, those guys are plenty good enough. Sampras used to practice with the UCLA team. If you're just hitting, comparable skill levels mean a lot less.

[callitout]

Agreed with previous poster about skill levels not being so important. Sampras used to hit with Paul Goldstein as practice partner. Roddick has hit with Alex Kuznetsov and other juniors. I've seen quotes from Safin saying sometimes in practice points these guys can take many points in a row from him but when they play a match things are quite different. I think all these guys can hit a clean ball which enables a Roddick, Sampras or Safin to practice their own strokes rather than creating a true competition for them. To the best of my knowledge, the only Recent college players on the tour are Bobby Reynolds, Amer Delic and Rajeev Ram (none ranks above 100 in the world).